My plant obsession

Six on Saturday 23-06-2018

No rain of any worth has fallen this last few weeks, and none is forecast for the next two. Normally about this far into a dry spell, people start talking in ominous tones about empty reservoirs, hose-pipe bans, sharing baths, that kind of thing. That is usually the trigger for torrential downpours lasting for weeks on end, entirely washing out the summer. So, despite the inconvient amount of watering necessary just now, enjoy it while it lasts! Time for Six on Saturday – six things, in the garden, on a Saturday. Could be anything, a flower, a pollinator, a pest, a container, a harvest, anything at all. Join in!

Here are my Six for this week.

1 – Lily. Remember those lily stems, ravaged by lily beetle a couple of weeks back? It hasn’t prevented them flowering. I prefer the lighter coloured blooms, the contrast with the chocolate brown thingys in the middle is best. What!? Thingys is a recognised horticultural term. In my house. Or head.

2 – Tagete ‘Naughty marietta’. I’ve dotted a few marigolds around the edges of the vegetable plot. I’m a little disappointed by the size of the flowers. I’d like them to be bigger and more obvious I think.

3 – Clematis ‘rebecca’. This is my most established clematis, in position for a few years now. There are oodles of flowers and they seem to last a long time. My hope is that the other 15 or so clematis I have around the place will establish in the same fashion.

4 – I’m not entirely sure what this is. I grew them from seed a few years ago, there are several around the garden. They don’t seem to mind much whether they are in the sun or not. I have a vague (very vague) recollection that they begin with “a”. Agastache of some kind maybe? This year has been particularly good for them, they grew quite big and bushy, then got flattened by the storm a week or two back. I have been applying some belated support to prevent such a collapse in the future.

5 – Penstemon ‘Patio Wine’. I like to think of this plant as an instruction, an order even, probably involving the voice of Windsor Davies circa 1978. “You there, you snivelling little gardener. Wine! Now! On the Patio! Move it, move it, on the double, left right left right!”. I can almost see that moustache twitching now…

6 – Rose ‘Oh Wow’. I bought this last year as a container rose, finally getting around to planting it early this spring. It is a climber, preferring a sunny aspect, so it is against the trellis on the sunnish wisteria border. It is putting out a lot of flowers but not achieving much height, or not yet. I am slowly training it up some canes and from there onto the trellis. My hope is that it will take over from the wisteria when it has finished flowering, joining the other rose and a couple of clematis that are also planted along here. Expecting bigger things next year.

Those are my six, what are yours? Join in, all the best people do! Just write your post, twit your tweet, face your book, insta your gram, whatever, then just pop a link to it below in the comments. Maybe mention this blog in your thang, that would be awesome. That’s it! Couldn’t be easier. Go on, you know you want to. You can find more information in the brief participants guide.

Have a fabulous gardening weekend, but don’t forget to check back in as more links will be added over the next day or two.

I’m very late posting my six, but proud that I managed to get it done at all (hoping I did it, anyway; my technological skills are somewhat lacking and S-L-O-W. . .) This is a very fun thing, looking at everyone’s gardens each week, and something to look forward to. Thanks so much!

I’m looking at your clematis and then out in the garden at my clematis and they look the same so now I know which one mine is – and the name rings a faint distant bell so thanks a great deal for that! I just wish I had cut it down a bit more in Feb as the stems are now a tangle and about 20 ft long.

That Rosa gallica ‘Versicolor’ (Mundi) even exists throws the whole debate about stripy roses wide open. It can’t be naff because it’s from the fifteenth century. If stripy meant modern it would be a clear thumbs down.

I love the Thingys. Mine have fat buds but are a way off flowering, I think. Also I squished the first lily beetle today so I expect they will be as leafless as yours were soon. That rose is a lovely thing ( as opposed to a Thingy), and I am jealous of your clematis as mine have done nothing. I agree, I think that fluffy purple thing is an Agastache.
Here in Wales where it always rains, it is as dry as a dry thing. The garden (heavy clay) is bone hard and cracking. We hosepipe every other night which is just about keeping things going, but, I really would love a bit of rain. Isn’t there a Ralph McTell song “Another rai -ai -ai-ai-ain has fallen…’?
Anyhow, enough of my wittering – here is my 6 for this week https://theoptimisticgardener.wordpress.com/2018/06/23/6-on-saturday-23-06-18/

You look like you might have a predominance of pink too, four from six in that part of the spectrum. I’m grateful for you posting a rose that I can live without; not that I specially dislike it, just wouldn’t choose it. I need to stop digging. Here’s my sextet: https://wp.me/p6bCCa-1zD

Well they are all looking lovely Prop. Especially the clematis. Sixteen you say? You must have a lot of fence to cover! I wish I could get mine to bloom so prolifically. I like your Penstemon too, wine would really go in my colour scheme, whereas the coral pink one I do have growing certainly does not!! Happy sunny weekend, I’m off to water my garden now!!

PS I was going to suggest some kind of posh clover for your mystery plant, but I see someone has managed to ID it. That’s what I love about blogging, so many friendly and useful folk about 🙂

It has been very dry, my arms are building muscles carrying water cans!! Lovely collection of 6 on Saturday especially the ‘oh wow’ rose, how aptly named. I’m missing the roses from my old garden but do have a patio rose, not included in my post today though. This is my patio collection making up for not having a garden http://hurtledto60.com/2018/06/23/six-on-saturday-patio-planting-23-06-2018/

Ah but I am helping daughter and SiL renovate the old garden in their new house and I’m caretaking an allotment until my name reaches the top of the list. Avidly reading allotment blogs as this is new to me. Still it doesn’t really make up for having my very own garden, but life is full of compromises.

So much lovely stuff in the garden right now. Lilies, roses, clematis and penstemons all looking great. I’m working via a tablet today so my link is n20gardener@wordpress.com. I hope that works for everyone.

Wishing John K well and looking forward to catching up with everyone else over the weekend. No rain could be a theme – except for Wales!

Very good six this week. But I shall not be tempted to add to my “want list”. Being up the road from Cardiff, we also got those 3 days of rain. Which was good for the garden and didn’t bother me at all as I’ve spent the last week and a bit in bed with damned flu! No, not man-flu, the fully-fledged shiver and sweat, shake and rattle, lead-weighted legs version. Which is why there’ll be no six from me this week. Now to start on my seasonal campaign, reminding cat owners to remove the anthers from lilies (what you call thingies) and asking non-cat owners it they would be so considerate as to ……..

Sorry to hear you have been unwell. Your Six-on-Saturday will be very much missed for its description, information, insults (well, kind insults if that’s not an oxymoron) …oh, and lovely plants! I hope you can see your beautiful garden from your sick bed.

#4 looks looks like some sort of red clover. I do not know all the names. Most that are used for cover crops are not as prolific with bloom. I suppose it could be an ornamental version of clover.
Is penstemon popular? I think of it as something that is popular here because it is native, and because it does well in the climate.
Gotta go. It three minutes to midnight, when my Six on Saturday posts. I will be right back with the link.

What a great six, especially lit up by all that sunshine. ‘Rebecca’ is gorgeous and I love the idea of a rose called ‘Oh Wow’ – says it all really, doesn’t it? Must say I’ll never quite see penstemons in the same light again . . . 🙂

The Propagator

I’ve been raising plants from seed for a good few years with some reasonable results. I’ve also dabbled a bit with cuttings with very patchy results. I became a little obsessed with the topic of propagation in 2016 and resolved to improve my success rate and to share what I discovered.
This blog is my assorted ramblings, progress, disasters, setbacks, results and some tips along the way. The focus was initially propagation, which still features heavily but has expanded to cover the veg plot and the general state of the garden. The blog is mostly for my benefit, to keep track of what I've done, and hopefully is also of some interest to other planty obsessives. I post fairly frequently so click below to follow or sign up to receive updates by email. Comments welcome, I will respond to all.